Danny Boyle on the Trainspotting Sequel, Directing the Queen, and Trance, “the Evil Twin Cousin of the Olympic Opening Ceremony”

How do you possibly follow up the task of orchestrating a live, four-hour Olympic Opening Ceremony that comprises more than 10,000 athletes, around 7,500 volunteers, 40 sheep, two mosh pits, one James Bond sketch featuring the Queen (and her Corgis!), one David Beckham–piloted motorboat carrying the Olympic torch, and a Paul McCartney–performed finale—a show that would be watched by an estimated 900 million viewers worldwide? If you’re director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, Trainspotting, 127 Hours) you follow it up with an epic adrenaline release via your most kinetic psychological thriller to date, Trance. The movie—which was shot before last summer’s ceremony and finished afterward—stars James McAvoy as an art auctioneer who falls in with a band of criminals (the leader played by Vincent Cassel) and must rely on a sexy hypnotherapist (Rosario Dawson) to help him recover a lost painting. The super-stylized film, which follows a tightly wound script by Joe Ahearne (Doctor Who) and regular Boyle collaborator John Hodge, ensures that viewers feel just as mentally cracked out as their protagonist, with its visual distortions—achieved by shooting through an extra layer of glass—and a subtle knocking-on-glass sound motif, which makes the audience suspect that it may be trapped in the same nightmarish fishbowl as McAvoy.

In anticipation ofTrance, which opens this Friday, we sat down with Boyle in Beverly Hills earlier this month. Among our topics: making a $20 million film look big-budget, the vision for Trainspotting 2, and how the Queen takes direction surprisingly well.

Julie Miller: What happens when you direct a mindfck movie like Trance*? Does any part of you go crazy yourself?

Danny Boyle: No, because of the circumstances in which we did it. It was actually a relief to do it because we were working on the Olympic Opening Ceremony, which is kind of a family-friendly national celebration. It’s so wholesome that the evil side of you, the dark side of you thinks, “What’s happening to me?” Fortunately we were able to go away and make this movie. We called it the evil twin cousin of the Olympic Opening Ceremony. The year previously, we had taken another sabbatical to do a stage play, Frankenstein, which is also very dark. These kinds of projects don’t drive you mad. What drives you mad is the Olympic Opening Ceremony! That’s what will drive you really mad. These keep you sane.

Speaking of the Olympic Opening Ceremony, how did the James Bond sketch with the Queen come about?

We wrote up the idea because part of the ceremony is that you have to bring the head of state in and play the national anthem. We thought, “Well, that’s going to be boring and so familiar.” So we thought we’d put together something with James Bond. We wrote up the idea and sent it to them, clearly expecting them to say no. Or to accept that we could do the idea but the [Queen’s body] double would have to be very good so as to not make a mockery of her or anything. But no, we got back this reply saying she was delighted and would like to be in it. We immediately looked at the date to make sure it wasn’t April 1. We thought it was a joke surely, but she was serious.

We set it up and it was very complicated because [the Queen and Daniel Craig] are incredibly busy, as you can imagine. Daniel was shooting [Skyfall] at the time. But I was determined to have them in the same room at the same time because that is the joy of it. And in fact she really wanted that, I think, for her staff. Because they are very loyal, obviously, and have been with her for many years. And she wanted them to have a day with Daniel Craig. That was part of it, I think. It’s a bust for them because they’re just like me or you—they love movies! The job’s boring, probably, a lot of the time, because you’re dealing with a lot of insufferable politicians and stuff like that. So you get your picture taken with Daniel Craig—he’s dressed like James Bond! And the Corgis are there! It’s good fun.

How is Her Majesty when it comes to taking direction?

Great! On the day [that we were filming], I went in to see her before we started. And she said, “I’m not in a very good mood. I’ve been at the dentist all morning.” I said, “I can sympathize with that.” She said, “What do you want? Just tell me what you want.” I told her, and she did it. You did not have to tell her twice. She was very smart and sharp—especially for a lady her age.

Did she get flustered by Daniel Craig?

No, I don’t think much flusters her. She was great, though, very lovely.

Back to Trance, which stars James McAvoy. You seem particularly fond of Celtic actors. What is it about them?

I know! What is it? Cillian Murphy, he’s Irish. Ewan McGregor, he’s Scottish, and all of those guys from Trainspotting. And then I get a chance to cast someone else [inTrance], and I cast another Scottish guy. He said to me, “Do you want me to do it in English? If Americans are involved, they always want me to do it in English.” I said, “No, you’ve got to do it in your own accent.” I love that accent. I think Americans love that accent as well. Because Sean Connery—Sean Connery! Come on!

Do you find that European actors work differently than Hollywood actors?

No, actors are actors. And a really good actor in Britain, like McAvoy, can acknowledge the camera in a way that the Americans know it. American actors are very comfortable with a camera. Some British actors are not so comfortable with a camera, with the restrictions of it. You know, there’s no point acting if the camera is not on you. You have to hit your marks. All of that stuff. But he is good with that. He is technically brilliant.

[Mild-spoiler alert:] And you play with the way he is perceived. You turn the audience’s expectations upside down.

Yes. I love that fact that—his reputation is as of a nice guy . . . and I loved playing with that. At the beginning, you think, “Here’s my hero. He’s got the voiceover. He’s talking you through it. He’s got a sense of humor.” And then these horrible guys start beating him up and ripping his fingernails out. It’s horrible. When in fact he’s a bit darker than you would have imagined. If you can, to be able to shift a character like that is beautiful.

And then [Vincent] Cassel, who is a perfect career criminal actor—by the end, he is like a lovelorn teenager. He’s got this offer of love late in life and he doesn’t quite know what to do with it. I love that.

What would people be surprised to learn that you watch in your free time? If you’re having a bad day, do you ever just want to watch a Hugh Grant romantic comedy?

Oh, I watch everything. I’m a big fan of Modern Family. Oh yeah, I think that is a very, very excellent show. For instance, my two favorite movies last year wereBeasts of the Southern Wildand The Raid: Redemption. The Raid, oh my God. It’s an Indonesian film made by a Welsh guy called Gareth Evans. I don’t know how he made an Indonesian film. It’s sort of a martial- arts film, even though I don’t normally like martial-arts films. It was a great year, though, withZero Dark Thirty, [Life of] Pi,Django [Unchained]. But yes, I have lots of guilty pleasures, but what’s good is that I don’t tend to think of them as guilty. I just think of them as pleasures.

I was excited to hear about the sequel toTrainspotting. There was a sequel to the original book, calledPorno, but that took place five years after Trainspotting. If you want to use the original actors, how are you thinking about doing it?

This is much more its own. The original [film] wasn’t really an adaptation of the book. Our sequel will not be an adaptation of Irvine [Welsh]’s sequel. Irvine will be involved, because obviously [these are his characters]. But it’s much more about 20 years having passed. The actors are 20 years older. The characters are 20 years older, and probably locked in the same town. It’s what’s happened to them, really, and that’s the point of it. It’s not just about making a sequel to something that was popular—so you’re just kind of making a paler version of it. It’s like you’re doing something different with it.

They were hedonists. The film’s texture and style behaved like a hedonist like they are. You take impossible risks with your body. Some of the things you do in your 20s, you look back on them and think, “What was I thinking? I could have so easily died.” But you do. But obviously when you get in your 40s, your body’s beginning to creak. You can’t do those things. You’re thinking about what have you done with your life? What has it amounted to? That also applies to the audience, because some of the audience will know the film from its beginning, and some will have caught up with it in the meantime. I guess it will be about time, really.

Well, that’s what we are sort of aiming for because it would be a neat marketing exercise. But we’re not doing it for the marketing reasons! It could be easily marketed. But the actors won’t do it unless the script is really good. I know they won’t. They are also aware of its reputation, and they won’t want to let anyone down.

After making The Beach with Leonardo DiCaprio, you said you shouldn’t be trusted with a large budget. Do you still feel that way?

Yeah, I do, actually. I kind of know enough about myself to know that it doesn’t get the best out of me. I really like the restrictions that come along with a limited budget . . . but I shouldn’t really say “a limited budget.” Twenty million dollars is still a lot of money. But I like the fact that it forces you to rely on things other than tools and toys and expensive equipment. You kind of have to dream up a different way of doing it. I really like that challenge. And I also like it because it helps you create this atmosphere among the crew and the actors that you are on a mission. And it’s not particularly well funded. So you’re going to have to be good. In order to make [the film] feel like it was made with $100 million, you’re going to have to be better than you normally are. Like I said, it’s kind of evangelical. You want to make it a special journey for everyone, and then that will read in the final film.

Is every film you direct just going to be a piece of cake after the Olympics?

It was interesting, because I’ve done theater and TV. And obviously movies. And the Opening Ceremony is kind of like all of those things but none of them as well. It’s an event spectacular. It’s a one-off. There’s only one take. If something goes wrong, you mustn’t even think it was wrong—it was in the show. It went like it went. That was it. You’re not going to get a chance to tell everybody, “Excuse me, everyone. We’d like to go back over that, if we could.” But we made it in a similar way that we made the films. We got a bunch of people together, and they were the heart of it. And all of the other people who tried to take over the show, for technical reasons or whatever, we kind of resisted. We used the kind of kudos you have because of the Academy Awards; we threatened them a few times.

Threatened them?

Oh yeah. If they started to interfere too much, we told them, “We’ll walk away, shall we, and leave you to it.” But then we thought that wouldn’t read very well in the newspapers [if we actually went ahead and left]. But yes, we shamelessly used our good fortune at the Academy Awards to get our own way, like spoiled children.

Is it true that you tried to get David Bowie to perform?

Yeah, that would have been special. We went to go see him in New York, and he was very supportive. We showed him what we were thinking for the ceremony, and he was very keen and helped us. He gave us everything we wanted—footage and the rights to songs. But he said that he didn’t want to appear live. Which is a shame, but you know—you should never have everything you want. [Laughs.]